the daily musings ... of faith and culture, of life and love, of fun and games, of a song and dance man, who is keeping his day job.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The Year of Juno

“This is one doodle that can't be undid, home skillet.”

It is the largest annual public demonstration in the Nation's capital. Its participants converge from all parts of the country. Most will never participate in a protest march their entire lives, save this one. Although they number in the hundreds of thousands, they are remarkably well-behaved. After all, church groups and mothers with babies in strollers are not much of a threat. Most of all, the mainstream press will barely admit it. When they do, it will be with a photograph of a crowd of them arguing with those who beg to differ. The issue will be played down in the mainstream press. It would be as though the whole event along Pennsylvania Avenue -- "America's Main Street" -- never happened.

So goes the biggest act of denial that one can imagine. But it's getting harder to ignore.

After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a woman's "right" to end the life of their unborn child in the 1973 Roe v Wade case, an indefatiguable woman named Nellie Gray began "The March for Life." Over time, later appointments to the High Court are beginning to form a coalition of sorts, in favor of a strict reading of the Constitution as the Founding Fathers would have intended. Such a mindset lifts the veil of "privacy" as a cover for an otherwise heinous act. The recently-retired Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, one who was never seen as part of that coalition, is reported to have said that the 1973 decision was "bad law." Should this be the case, it may fall of its own weight, regardless of who sits in The Oval Office.

There are reports that the number of abortions in the USA is actually going down. What's more, the sacredness of life, and the dignity of the women who bear it, may be starting to influence the popular culture. Juno is a movie directed by Jason Reitman, and starring Michael Cera and Ellen Page, which opened about a month ago. It is obvious that the movie is not intended to preach some pro-life message. Equally obvious, is that it doesn't have to.

Both sides of the abortion issue can probably agree on two things. One is that no one really likes to contemplate it, and that it is when a woman has her back to the wall, and no where to go, that the "termination of a pregnancy" can seem a viable option. The other is that the same woman would, given the choice, rather know that she is not alone in facing this decision, as opposed to the terror of believing that she is.

In closing, there are a number of alternatives for those facing crisis pregnancies...